Election 2004 Meeting: Gathering To Save Our Democracy National Conference Nash

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Sun, 3 Apr 2005 13:43:55 -0700 (PDT)

Election 2004 Meeting: " Gathering To Save Our Democracy

National Conference " Nashville Apr 8-10. 2005

 

 

 

 

 

Gathering To Save Our Democracy

National Conference on the 2004 Election

and the Need for Election Reform

Nashville, Tennessee, April 8-10, 2005

 

BACKGROUND

 

Since November 3, 2004, there has been a groundswell of concern,

and a plethora of evidence, that the conduct of the 2004 Presidential

election in the United States was highly problematic. These concerns

have been belittled by many and ignored by the corporate media in this

country. However, the weight of the evidence is overwhelming that a

multi-faceted strategy of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement,

potential manipulation of electronically cast votes in many states,

and other instances of election fraud and theft improperly influenced

the will of the American people and may have subverted the " consent of

the governed " . This evidence was sufficient to have stimulated the

Government Accountability Office and U.S. Representative John Conyers

and other national leaders to investigate the evidence of wrong-doing.

This evidence also caused the U.S. Congress to suspend their routine

business and to debate the merits of accepting Ohio's electoral votes

on January 6, 2005, a historic occasion that highlighted the many

problems in Ohio and also served to shed light on similar problems in

other states. With this Congressional debate, the American people's

responsibility to win back our democratic process was enumerated and

enjoined.

 

To date, most of the discussion and information sharing on the

problems with the 2004 election have occurred in the virtual world of

the Internet. While there have been some local gatherings and regional

and national protests focused on this issue, there has been no

opportunity for concerned citizens, researchers, activists and elected

officials to meet under one roof to review the wealth of evidence for

the many threats to our democratic processes which the 2004 election

revealed and to discuss the urgent need for election reform. While

some panels on this topic have been added to several national

meetings, these panels are not nearly sufficient to present all of the

evidence for the 2004 election problems. It is also insufficient to

fully inform the American people enough to motivate them to seek

redress for the violations of our voting rights which occurred with

this past election and to coalesce sentiment around an election reform

agenda.

 

For these reasons, this three day Gathering To Save Our Democracy

- A National Conference will provide the appropriate forum for

expanding public awareness, for congregating the accumulated knowledge

under one roof and for providing a platform for mobilizing support for

election reform and justice.

 

Nashville, Tennessee is the setting of this conference. Nashville

has a proud history of early successes in the 1960s civil rights

movement, we are in a Southern and supposedly " red " state (we prefer

to consider ourselves an Orange State, in deference to the Ukrainian

example), we are centrally located within a day's drive of 60% of the

U.S. population, we have an international airport serviced by a dozen

major airlines, and we have several locations tentatively identified

as appropriate and historic venues for hosting the conference. But

most importantly, we have an energetic (and growing) band of

citizen-activists for election reform in Tennessee who would insure

the successful implementation of this conference.

 

This conference will be a comprehensive and historic event that

will bring together the " major players " who have surfaced in the

dialogue over the problems with the 2004 election and the need for

election reform. We also anticipate that the conference will be a

gathering place for the many concerned citizens throughout the nation

and the world who are intent on preserving democracies. We hope that

this conference will help break the media silence about the problems

with the 2004 election within our country and provide a forum for

increasing the world's attention to our threatened democratic

principles. In addition, we will hold discussion sessions before and

after the conference to exchange ideas and build coalitions to pursue

the necessary elements of election reform and to redress our concerns

with the 2004 election.

 

The conference registration fee is $30 (with exceptions for

hardships), and will cover all conference-related activities. Please

review the tentative conference agenda, current list of speakers and

supporting organizations, complete the conference registration form

and register using PayPal. Special hotel rates available. (People who

cannot attend the conference but who would like to support the

conference by making a donation can do so using PayPal also.) We will

send you the final conference agenda and other details one week prior

to the conference. Please contact Bernard Ellis, Jr., MA, MPH

(931/682-2864; tracevu [at] bellsouth.net ) for more information on

the conference.

 

Thank you for supporting the conference and for promoting the

preservation of democracy in America.

 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE TODAY!

http://www.freepress.org/conf_reg.php

 

If you are interested in donating to the conference but are unable

to attend, donate to the conference using Pay Pal:

 

http://www.freepress.org/conf.php